The present invention relates generally to pallets and associated methods for loading items upon pallets and, more particularly, to pallets that are particularly adapted to support items mounted upon casters and associated methods of loading the items that are mounted upon the casters onto pallets.
A variety of electronic and other equipment is stored and shipped in protective cases. For example, test equipment such as data acquisition and data reduction instrumentation, including the acoustic systems utilized to identify and rank sources of noise emanating from a given object, are oftentimes mounted within shipping cases to protect the expensive equipment during shipment from location to location. While the equipment can be packed within the shipping case in a variety of manners, the equipment is oftentimes rack mounted within the shipping case such that the equipment and the shipping case form an integral unit. These cases generally have a rugged exterior and may be formed of a metal, a hard plastic or the like. The interior of these cases is typically padded to further protect the contents. For example, one type of shipping case is an Anvil(copyright) case available from Caltron Packaging Group of City of Industry, California.
Shipping cases can also include casters. As such, the shipping cases can be rolled from place to place in order to properly position the equipment. While the casters facilitate movement of the shipping cases and the equipment disposed within the shipping cases, the casters create several problems during shipment of the cases. In this regard, the shipping cases and the equipment disposed within the shipping cases are oftentimes quite heavy and must be loaded and unloaded with forklifts or other heavy equipment. Since the shipping cases do not include an undercarriage that is easily engaged by a forklift, the forklift may damage the shipping case and the enclosed equipment while loading and unloading the shipping case. As such, specific instructions must typically be given to a forklift operator regarding the need to be careful with the shipping case in order to reduce the likelihood that the shipping case and the enclosed equipment will be damaged by the forklift.
Additionally, the shipping cases are not generally designed to have the casters support the entire weight of the shipping case and the enclosed equipment during shipment. In this regard, the movement and the vibration of the shipping case during shipment combined with the weight of the shipping case and the enclosed equipment may damage the casters. As such, the useful lifetime of the casters may be reduced, thereby requiring the casters to be replaced sooner than desired. The replacement of the casters will, in turn, take some time during which the shipping case and the enclosed equipment will generally be unavailable and will incur some cost due to the parts and labor required for the repair. As a result being mounted upon casters, shipping cases may also roll about during shipment, thereby further increasing the possibility that the shipping case or the enclosed equipment may be damaged. Accordingly, the shipping cases must typically be strapped to a fixed portion of a cargo compartment, such as a wall or the like.
Since the shipping cases are oftentimes relatively expensive and the equipment housed within the shipping cases may cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, it is desirable to minimize the possibility of damage to a shipping case and the enclosed equipment. As such, custom pallets or crates have been constructed to support shipping cases that have casters during shipment. In these instances, the shipping case is rolled up a ramp and onto a custom pallet or crate. The shipping case is then tilted such that one side of the case is raised. A block or support is then inserted under the side of the case that has been raised. The block is connected to the pallet and the shipping case is then lowered onto the block. The process of tilting the shipping case such that an edge is raised into the air is repeated for each side of the shipping case until blocks have been placed under each side of the shipping case. The shipping case is then banded onto the pallet, typically with disposable metal banding.
While the custom pallets or crates address the shortcomings described above in conjunction with the shipment of shipping cases in a non-palletized manner, the process of loading a shipping case upon a custom pallet is quite time consuming and generally requires several individuals to move and position the shipping case. Additionally, the custom pallet generally includes a plurality of loose parts that may be lost or misplaced and the process of loading a shipping case upon the custom pallet requires a number of tools to connect the parts. As such, it would be desirable to further improve the process of shipping a shipping case disposed upon casters in order to permit the shipping case to be loaded and unloaded in a fairly simple fashion by no more than one or two individuals while continuing to minimize the possibility of damage to the shipping case and the enclosed equipment.
An improved pallet and an associated method are therefore provided that are capable of supporting an item, such as a shipping case that is mounted upon casters, so as to reduce the possibility that the item will be damaged during shipment or during its loading or unloading. Additionally, the improved pallet and associated method of the present invention permit an item, such as a shipping case disposed upon casters, to be loaded onto and unloaded from the pallet in a relatively simple manner such that one or two individuals can load and unload the item, if necessary.
The pallet includes a pallet deck having a support surface for supporting the item. Typically, the pallet deck includes a fore edge over which the item is initially loaded upon the pallet deck, an aft edge disposed opposite the fore edge and a pair of side edges extending in a longitudinal direction between the fore and aft edges. The pallet deck includes a fixed portion, typically disposed proximate the fore edge and extending along the pair of side edges. According to one advantageous embodiment, the pallet deck also includes a movable portion proximate the fixed portion. The movable portion is capable of moving between a first position in which the movable portion is displaced from the fixed portion and a second position in which the movable portion and the fixed portion cooperate to define the support surface for supporting the item. For example, the movable portion may be connected to the fixed portion, such as by a hinged connection, such that the movable portion can be rotatedly downwardly into the first position.
The movable portion is generally in the second position while the item is loaded upon and unloaded from the pallet. The movable portion is moved to the first position, however, during shipment and storage of the item. The pallet also includes a support disposed upon the fixed portion of the pallet deck for supporting the item once the movable portion is in the first position. Prior to movement of the movable portion into the first position, however, the item is typically spaced apart from the support. For an item mounted upon casters, for example, the casters are typically supported by the pallet deck, while the movable portion is in the second position with the lower surface of the item being disposed in a spaced relation to the support.
In one embodiment, the support includes a stationary portion that is mounted in a fixed position upon the pallet deck and a movable portion connected to the stationary portion. The movable portion is capable of moving from a retracted position during loading and unloading of the item to an extended position in which the movable portion extends beyond the stationary portion following loading of the item for subsequent support of the item during shipment and storage. In one advantageous embodiment, the pallet includes a pair of supports having respective stationary portions disposed upon the side edges of the pallet deck. In this embodiment, the movable portions may be hingedly connected to respective stationary portions such that each support preferably extends along at least 60% of a respective side of the item once the movable portions are in the extended position. Additionally, each support can include an engagement member, such as a pin, for engaging the pallet deck in order to secure the movable portion of the support in a respective position, such as the retracted position or the extended position.
The support may include a medial support disposed upon a medial portion of the pallet deck. The medial support includes a movable medial support and a stationary medial support. The movable medial support is movable between a retracted position during loading and unloading of the item and an extended position in which the movable medial support is advanced towards the fore edge of the pallet deck during shipment and storage of the item. In contrast, the stationary medial support is disposed in a fixed position. While the movable medial support generally extends beyond the stationary medial support in the extended position, the stationary medial support and the movable medial support may be disposed proximate to one another in instances in which the movable medial support is in the retracted position. The pallet of this embodiment can also include an actuating member, such as a push rod, disposed in mechanical communication with the medial support such that actuation of the actuating member causes the medial support to move toward the fore edge of the pallet deck. In this regard, the pallet can include a longitudinally extending track for guiding the movement of the movable medial support. For example, one of the movable medial support and the stationary medial support can define the track, while the other medial support includes a slide for engaging the track.
The pallet can also include a ramp proximate one edge of the pallet deck to facilitate loading of an item upon the pallet deck. In this regard, the ramp is preferably positioned relative to the pallet deck such that the fixed portion of the pallet deck is disposed between the ramp and the movable portion of the pallet deck. The ramp is typically hingedly connected to the fixed portion of the pallet deck. Additionally, the ramp generally includes a spacer for operably contacting the item once the ramp is folded upwardly about the item during shipping The fixed portion of pallet deck can also include an angled portion proximate the ramp and opposite the movable portion of the pallet deck. The angled portion is designed to support one or more casters of the item such that the item is maintained in a relatively level orientation once the movable portion of the pallet deck is moved into the first position by being displaced from the fixed portion of the pallet deck.
In operation, an item is initially rolled up the ramp onto the support surface of the pallet deck. The item is supported upon the pallet deck so as to be spaced from the supports disposed upon the pallet deck beneath the item. For example, the casters of the item are generally supported by the pallet deck with the lower surface of the item being spaced above the supports. More particularly, the casters are generally supported by the movable portion of the support deck and the angled portion of the fixed portion of the pallet deck. Once the item is positioned upon the support surface, the supports can be extended toward the fore edge of the pallet deck. For example, one or, more commonly, a pair of side supports and a medial support can be extended towards the fore edge of the pallet deck. The movable portion of the pallet deck is then displaced from the fixed portion of the pallet deck such that the item primarily rests upon and is supported in a relatively level orientation by the underlying supports. Thereafter, the ramp is folded upwardly alongside the item and packing straps or the like are wrapped about the pallet and the item.
As a result of its construction, the pallet of the present invention can readily receive and support an item that is mounted upon casters. As such, the pallet facilitates the loading and unloading of the item by means of a forklift or other mechanical equipment and prevents movement of the item during shipment since the item no longer rests upon the casters. In addition, the lower surface of the item is supported by the pallet such that the majority of the weight of the item is removed from the casters, thereby preventing unnecessary damage to the casters during shipment. The pallet also advantageously has no loose parts and generally requires no tools to load and unload an item, other than a pallet jack, a forklift or the like. Since, the pallet to the present invention is also designed to facilitate the loading and unloading of items upon the pallet, most items can be loaded onto and unloaded from the pallet by one or two individuals, thereby further simplifying the shipping process, particularly with respect to items mounted on casters.